Knuckle anti-creep device



FIG. 2

1956 E. H. BLATTNER KNUCKLE ANTI-CREE? DEVICE Filed April 16, 1955 FIG.1

FIG 6 his Attorney FIG. 5

IQJUCKLE AN TI-CREEP DEVICE Emil H. Blattner, Williamsville, N. Y.,assignor to The Symington-Gould Corporation, Depew, N. Y., a corporationof Maryland Application April 16, 1953, Serial No. 349,267

6 Claims. (Cl. 213--155) This invention relates to automatic couplersand particularly to an anti-creep device for preventing creep of acoupler knuckle from open position.

Automatic couplers of the type now approved or proposed for interchangeservice on railway cars, such as the E, H, and F couplers, contain nopositive means for preventing creep of the coupler knuckle when thelatter is in open position. In making up trains in hump yards thecoupler knuckles are opened before the cars are sent over the hump andonto the classification tracks so that the couplers will automaticallycouple as it collides with the coupler of the preceding car. Insuchservice the friction between the knuckle and the coupler head in anumber of cases has proved insuflicient to prevent the knuckle fromcreeping closed, disenabling it from coupling with the preceding car,and requiring manual uncoupling as well as bumping of the car, beforethe train can be made up. Numerous anti-creep devices have beenproposedto eliminate the waste of time attendant such individual handling of acar. However, none of such devices has proved suificiently effective tomerit their adop tion as standard practice, and the trouble stillremains.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide an improvedanti-creep device for automatic couplers in the form of a gravity lockwhereby an open coupler knuckle is effectively held against creepingwithout impairment of the automatic operation of the coupler.

Another object of the invention is to provide an anticreep device forautomatic couplers wherein the bearing surfaces on the coupler knuckleand head are serrated and so arranged as to be intermeshed by gravity onopening of the knuckle and to have surface engagement between theirlands when the knuckle is closed, whereby the knuckle in open positionis restrained against creeping and in closed position has adequatesurface bearing with the coupler head to minimize wear.

An additional object of the invention is toprovide an improvedanti-creep device for automatic couplers wherein the bearing surfaces onthe coupler head and knuckle about the knuckle pin openings are serratedand the faces of the surfaces are so arranged and constructed that thecoupler knuckle will be locked by gravity against creeping on reachingopen position and released by camming for automatic coupling undernormal service forces.

A further object of the invention is to provide an anticreep device forautomatic couplers whereby by modifying the bearing surfaces of thecoupler head and knuckle about the knuckle pin openings, creep of theknuckle in opened position is effectively prevented without othermodification in the construction of the automatic coupler and withoutchange in its normal operation.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter inthe detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims, and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan view of a coupler embodying theinvention;

Patented Aug. 28,- 1956 Figure 2 is a side elevational view of thecoupler of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sec= tional view of thecoupler head with the knuckle removed, the view being taken along linesyy of Figure 2, look ing in the direction of the arrow 3;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary horizontal sectional View of theknuckle taken along the lines y-y' of Figure 2, looking in the directionof the arrow '4;

Figure 5 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view of thecoupler taken along the lines 5-5 of Figure l, but with the knuckle inopen position, as in Figure 1; and

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view of thecoupler taken on the same section as Figure 5, with the knuckle inclosed position, as in Figure 2.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, in which like referencecharacters designate like parts, the improved anti-creep device of thepresent invention is adapted to automatic knuckle couplers and isparticularly designed for couplers of the type now approved or proposedfor interchange use by the railroads, such as the E, H, and F couplers.Of these types, the type E coupler has been selected for purposes ofillustration and, since only the head portion of the coupler is germaneto the invention, the showing has been so limited.

Except for its anti-creep device, the illustrated coupler is theconventional E coupler. Thus it is comprised of a head 1 having on oneside a guard arm 2 and on the other a pair of vertically spaced ears 3between which pivots about a vertical axis a knuckle 4. The knuckle ispivotally connected to the guard arms by a knuckle pin 5, the latterseating in and projecting through pin holes or openings 6 and 7 in theknuckle 4 and ears 3, respectively. On each of the ears 3 is a boss orhub 8 defining its pin hole 7 and projecting inwardly into the knucklespace or opening between the ears. Each of these projecting bosses 8, inturn, seats in a socket 9 in the confronting wall of the knuckle 4.Conventionally, the sockets are in part open-sided and defined,rearwardly, by a pulling shoulder 10, the latter, due to the elongation,longitudinally or axially of the coupler, of the pin holes 7 in the ears3, directly engaging the sides of the ear bosses 8 in draft and thusrelieving the, knuckle pin 5 of draft forces.

In the normal E coupler, the confronting surfaces of the ear bosses 8and the knuckle sockets 9 are flat so that full surface bearing over thearea about the pin holes 6- and 7 is obtained throughout the range ofmovement of the knuckle from open to closed positions, the former shownin full in'Figure 1 and the latter in full in Figure 2 and in dot anddash line in Figure 1. With such fiat sur-' faces, the knuckle, when inopen position, is' restrained from creeping towards closed positionmainly by the friction engendered by the weight of the coupler betweenthe confronting horizontal surfaces of the lower of the ear' bosses 3and the corresponding of the knuckled sockets 9 in the knuckle, assistedsomewhat by the resistance to displacement of the locking mechanism (notshown).-

of the ear bosses 8 and the corresponding of the knuckle sockets 9.These surfaces, here those on the lower ear boss and socket, willhereafter be termed bearing sur faces to distinguish them from those atthe upper end of the knuckle, which are here of no concern. Both thebearing surface 11 of the lower ear boss 8 and that 12 of the recessedboss 13 in the lower of the knuckle sockets 9, on the illustratedcoupler, follow in plan or horizontal outline the configuration of thecorresponding surfaces on the conventional coupler, but are heremodified so as to provide a gravity interlock in the open position ofthe knuckle. To this end, each of the bearing surfaces is serrated,grooved or notched at intervals about its pin hole, 6 or 7, to provideon each of the bosses the same number of flat-crowned axially orvertically directed teeth, those on the ear boss 8 being designated asand those on the knuckle boss 12, as 15. Specifically, the bearingsurface 11 of the ear boss 12 is formed of one or more radiallyextending, substantially horizontal lands or fiat crowns 16 separated byand alternating circumferentially of the boss with a like number ofgrooves, recesses or seats 17 and the bearing surface 11 of the knuckleboss 13 has corresponding lands 18 and grooves 1%. On both bosses thesides 20 of the teeth or grooves are inclined or sloping and divergeoutwardly of the grooves, to serve as cam faces in the mannerhereinafter to be described.

With a like number of teeth on the knuckle and car bosses, it is onlynecessary to arrange the lands of each boss to coincide with the groovesof the other boss in the open position of the coupler for the bearingsurface or teeth on the knuckle to drop into mating, intermeshing orinterlocking position with that on the ear boss, and thereafter lock orhold the knuckle against creeping. The requisite drop or relativevertical movement or displacement of the knuckle depends somewhat on theinclination or slope of the sides 20 of the grooves but in any case willbe quite small, a drop of less than /11 sulficing in the illustratedembodiment. The extent of the drop may conveniently be limited byengagement of the lands 16 or 18, on one of the bosses with fiatsurfaces 21 defining the bottoms of the grooves 17 or 19, of the othermember, the grooves of both bosses here being provided with such stopsurfaces. when the knuckle is open, the vertical clearance provided in aconventional coupler between the surfaces of the knuckle and the lowercoupler car, outside the bosses, will ordinarily be suificient toaccommodate it, but, if necessary, one or the other of these surfacesmay be cut back for this purpose. Gtherwise, the coupler requires nomodification.

Were only interlock against creep of moment, the interlock could as Wellbe obtained by the provision of a single small tooth on one of thebosses and a correpsonding groove on the other. The difiiculty is thatwear on the coupler takes place primarily when the knuckle is in closedor coupled position, at which time the knuckle would ride only on theland of the one tooth. The anticreep device of the present invention istherefore designed not only to provide an eifective interlock in theopen position of the knuckle, but to afford adequate surface engagemcntbetween the knuckle and ear bosses at other times, and particularly whenthe knuckle is closed.

With 180 the optimum land-contact, in terms of degrees, between serratedsurfaces, the maximum overlay obtainable between each of the pairs ofconfronting lands in the closed position of the knuckle will depend onthe opening angle or angular movement of the knuckle be tween open andclosed positions. For the illustrated coupler, the opening angle is inthe order of 53 and the angle included by each of the inclined surfaces20 is some 6, thus affording for each pair of lands an effective overlapof 47. This overlap, were the bosses circular in cross-section, woulddictate the provision of either the illustrated three or four lands oneach boss for maximum bearing, with the arrangement either symmetric orasymmetric for the three and preferably symmetric for the four. However,with bosses of irregular contour and three lands on each boss, anasymmetric arrangement is preferred with the lands so disposed as totake maximum advantage of the irregularity and obtain a surface bearingwith the knuckle closed equal substantially to one-half the Since thedrop is small and occurs only engagement obtainable between theplane-surfaced bosses. As a consequence, ample surface bearing isafforded with the engaging surfaces unrncshed and the crowns or lands 8of the knuckle teeth 15 overriding or surmounting the correspondingcrowns 16 of the ear boss teeth 14, to hold wear of these surfaces at aminimum in the closed or coupled position of the knuckle.

It has been mentioned that the sides Zfl of the grooves in the twobosses are inclined. This inclination serves two purposes. First, itenables the knuckle to slide into its interlock as it approaches openposition and second, and more important, it enables the coupler to becammed to lift and release it from locked position, by a horizontalforce such as is applied in coupling. The release force is, I

of course, greater than that required to close a knuckle of aconventional coupler, as, otherwise, the interlock would be ineffective.However, the kinetic energy in a humped car is adequate for this purposeand the coupling of cars on the flat, where the force is supplied by anengine, presents no problem.

From the above detailed description it will be understood that there hasbeen provided an improved anticrcep means for opened knuckles which isgravity actuated automatically as the coupler reaches open position, issimple in construction, requires but minor modification of conventionalautomatic knuckle couplers, and is eifcctive in anti-creep withoutinterfering with the normal operation of the coupler under serviceconditions. It will be understood that the described and disclosedembodiment is merely exemplary of the invention and that allmodifications are intended to be included which do not depart eitherfrom the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. In an automatic coupler having a knuckle pivotally mounted on acoupler head, an anti-creep comprising bearing surfaces on said knuckleand coupler head and disposed about the pivotal axis of said knuckle,said surfaces being formed of alternate lands and grooves, and saidsurfaces being arranged relative to each other to intermesh on openingof said knuckle and have land-contact with said knuckle closed. 1

2. In an automatic coupler having a knuckle pivotally mounted on acoupler head,'an anti-creep comprising bearing surfaces on said knuckleand coupler head and disposed about the pivotal axis of said knuckle,each of said surfaces being formed of alternate lands and grooves, andsaid surfaces being arranged relative to each other to intermesh onopening of said knuckle and have substantially full land-coutact withsaid knuckle closed.

3. In an automatic coupler having a knuckle pivotally connected to andsupported on one of a pair of vertically spaced ears on a head of saidcoupler, an anti-creep comprising bearing surfaces on said knuckle andsaid one ear and disposed about the pivotal axis of said knuckle, eachof said surfaces being formed of a plurality of axially extendingcircumferentially spaced flat crowned teeth, said teeth of said surfacesbeing arranged relative to each other to intermesh on opening ofsaidknuckle for preventing creep thereof and to have crown contact with saidknuckle closed for supporting said knuckle on said supporting ear.

4. In an automatic coupler having a coupler head and a knuckle connectedthereto for pivoting about a vertical axis, an anti-creep comprisingteeth bearing surfaces on said head and knuckle, the teeth of saidsurfaces having substantially flat lands, said teeth being arrangedrelative to each other to intermesh with said knuckle open and havecrown contact 'with said knuckle closed, and inclined sides on saidteeth for enabling camming of said knuckle from open to closed positionby application of a horizontal force thereto.

5. In an automatic coupler having a coupler head and a knuckle pivotallyconnected to and supported on one of a pair of vertically spaced ears onsaid head, said knuckle having a vertical pivotal axis, an anti-creepcomprising bearing surfaces on said knuckle and supporting ear anddisposed about said pivotal axis of said knuckle, a like number ofvertically directed flat crowned teeth forming each of said surfaces,said teeth being arranged relative to each other to intermesh when saidknuckle is open and to have crown contact with said knuckle closed, andsaid teeth being sloping-sided for camming said knuckle by horizontalforce from open to closed position.

6. In an automatic coupler having a knuckle pivotally mounted on acoupler head, an anti-creep comprising toothed bearing surfaces on saidknuckle and head, the

teeth of said surfaces having substantially flat crowns, and said teethbeing arranged relative to each other to interfit in an open position ofsaid knuckle and to have crown contact when said knuckle is closed.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

